Wayne A.I. Frederick (L) helps to adjust the hood after President Barack Obama was presented with a Doctor of Science honorary degree by member of Howard University Board of Trustees Vernon (R) Jordan during the 2016 commencement ceremony at Howard University on May 7, 2016 in Washington, D.C.
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The President pointed to progress over time on issues such as racism, treatment of the LGBT community and income inequality, and said “if you had to choose one moment in history in which you could be born”, without knowing your circumstances ahead of time, “you wouldn’t choose 100 years ago”.
“A lot of folks didn’t even think blacks had the tools to be a quarterback”, Obama said.
In what was a clear rebuke to Donald Trump’s promise to make America great again, Obama also made clear that as far as he’s concerned, the U.S.is better now than it was when he graduated college.
‘Now Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday night and Beyonce runs the world, ‘ he said, making a point about diversity. “We can not sleepwalk through life”, he said. We’re no longer small-business owners, we’re CEOs. “We’re CEOs. We’re mayors, representatives”. “Obviously, they do”, Obama told the Howard graduates. “You got to get in his head, too”, he said. “But as complicated and intractable as these challenges may see, the truth is, your generation is better position than any before you to meet those challenges”. Lightly discussing his triumphs in the White House, Obama cited that his presidential win didn’t create the post-racial society many academics credit him for. He said the country “also happens to be better off than when I took office, but that’s a longer story”.
Obama, the son of a white mother and African father, told the graduates to embrace their racial identity.
Arguing that the US – and the world – is a “better place” than when he graduated from college in the early 1980s, he says there is still work to be done, citing employment, achievement and justice gaps for African-Americans. That means we can not sleepwalk through life.
He urged them to vote and not to fear opposing voices. But the president knows it is unlikely that a Republican-controlled Congress will enact significant new legislation in an election year.
“Be confident in your heritage, be confident in your blackness”, he told the mostly black audience of around 15,000.
“Don’t do that, no matter how ridiculous or offensive you might find the things that come out of their mouths”, Obama cautioned. “You know what? Just vote”.
In delivering his first commencement speech of the 2016 graduation season – and the final year of his presidency – Obama made the case that action on issues important to black students, including mass incarceration and police behavior, require careful attention to local politics and a willingness to make bargains with those who hold opposing views.
“I used to joke about being old”.
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The address was the first of three commencement speeches Obama plans this spring.
